Busy week ahead of us

I've dreaded this coming week for awhile now, but there is a silver lining at the end. This is the week of Ellie's neck MRI. It was determined by the Riley Children's Hospital MRI staff that Ellie needs to be put under general anesthesia due to her being a heavy/loud breather. It's scheduled for Wednesday, but we won't know the time of the actual test until Tuesday afternoon. This sucks since Riley is 2 hrs away from us. I'm a planner and like to know times, dates, etc. This will be the first time she's been put all the way under so that does scare me a bit. Hopefully, we will get her results promptly so we can know what's next in her future.

The next day, Ellie has to make yet another trip to the Dentist. She has another 'spot' on one of her back teeth (forgive me for not knowing which tooth. Frankly, the Dentist and the mouth/teeth creep me out). This will be her third sealant put on. According to Dr. Weir, Ellie has very thin enamel on her teeth and on some of her teeth, the enamel isn't even touching. These two things alone has hopefully caused her 'spots.' It'll be interested to see how her permanent teeth will fair. Hopefully, their enamel will be thicker.


Now, for the silver lining to the wk. My sister, Traci, is coming in on Friday for the weekend! My girls absolutely ADORE Aunt Traci. What a great birthday present to me...a visit from my awesome big sis!!! What more can a girl want...a new iPhone(a gift from me to me), a visit from her best friend...life is good!

Regional Wrap-Up

This past weekend, we headed up to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the District 5 LPA Spring Regional. We left immediately after school on Thursday and drove to Auburn, IN for the night. Ellie scoped out a Super 8 that she wanted to stay in rather than the brand new Hampton Chris had reserved. For some reason, Ellie thinks that Super 8 is THE hotel of all hotels...like it's the Taj Mahal or something. Silly girl! We got up early the next morning and headed to Grand Rapids. Chris went on a fishing expedition when we arrived so it was just the girls and I for Friday. We hung by the pool and was able to meet up with Mandy and Andrea.

Later on that evening, we went to the Mingle and was able to meet up with Cat and Owen. Let me tell you...Owen is one busy dude. He is cute as a button!! Andrea soon joined in and she was dancing the night away. I tried to get a pic with all the blogging mama's kids, but that is nearly an impossible task!

The next morning, the kids were off to the Children's Room so we could attend the Parents Meeting. It was very informative and I learned some things from other parents. The bad thing was that this was the beginning of my deteriorating voice. For some strange reason, laryngitis hit me hard on Saturday, deeming it nearly impossible for me to speak. Now, my kids loved it! But for me...I was wanting to talk, talk, talk to all these other parents but I just couldn't. It was really, really upsetting, not to mention frustrating. I guess this just means that I'll have to go to the next Regional, huh. Sounds good to me!

Saturday afternoon, we went to the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. What an amazing place! It is beautiful!!! We walked thru this huge exhibit that featured more than 6,000 tropical butterflies all fluttering about. It was spectacular!






That evening, we went to dinner with the Ehle's and had a great time at Longhorn Steakhouse. The food was yummy but the camaraderie what was made it so much fun. You know your kids are getting older when they turn their noses up to the Kiddie Menu, which is exactly what Katie did. Instead, she opted for a 1/2 rack of Baby Backs...and she ate all except 1! Thank goodness (for my pocketbook) that Maddie still opts to be a kid. Ellie could probably eat off the kid's menu for years.

After dinner, we headed to the Dance. We had a great time, but I, at this point, had NO VOICE AT ALL. What a bummer. We did get a photo opp with the other Bloggers in District 5 that were there. That was a lot of fun, too. There was a lot of dancing, a lot of drinking, and most of all...a lot of laughs.




From Left: Sarah, me, Cat, Mandy, Reenea', and Amy. Kneeling down is Tonya.

We left early the next morning just because of the long drive we had ahead of us. It took us only 7 hrs to get home and we were all completely exhausted by the time we hit the driveway. But, it was so worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat...these are important events for me to get Ellie involved in. I'm so glad to have finally met some of the ladies I've been 'talking' to for quite some time now. I felt like I already knew many of them, even though we had never met fact to face. I can't wait to meet more friends in October!

No MRI tomorrow....

For all of you on FB--hang tight please, but for those others out there, here's the recap. Ellie was originally scheduled for her neck MRI tomorrow (4.13). BUT, thanks to the stupid *bleep* *bleep* pre-op nurse (forgive me fellow pre-op nurses at BH) at Riley, they cannot proceed with Ellie's MRI tomorrow. They now think the MRI needs to be done under general anesthesia so they couldn't accommodate us tomorrow...damn!! Apparently, now we can't get in until mid-May unless a cancellation pops up. For a test that was to be done as soon as we could get it done, mid-May seems quite far off to me. Not a very good patient satisfier in my not-so-humble opinion. Maybe I'm being pissy, IDK. It just makes me a nervous wreck that I was told how life-changing our lives could be if, God forbid, something happens to Ellie's neck (i.e paralysis from the neck down). She is just more fragile than most of us, including other LP's. Should I just put her on a leash or tie her to a chair? Seriously...think about how it would make you feel if you were told that your child is at an increased risk for major paralysis (like Christopher Reeves)? It scares the hell out of me. I just pray we can get her in sooner than mid-May. Sorry for the sober post. I know the next one will be better....it'll have the recap from the District 5 LPA Spring Regionals!!!

And the 1st prize goes to......

ELLIE for finding the 1st prize egg!!!! I was able to get out of work early on Saturday and meet my Mom at the Elementary School for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt. She was generous enough to take them for me (thanks, Mom for everything you do!) The turn out was HUGE, probably because it was one of the most beautiful day's we've had in a while. All the girls were placed with their age grps and they were all in different areas of the playground. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be in 3 places at once, so I wasn't able to capture Katie and Maddie hunting. I stuck around and watched Ellie...and watch her find the 1st prize egg!!!! I was so proud of her! She was definitely walking around the rest of the afternoon with a skip in her step...lol. Katie and Maddie didn't win a thing :( but they had fun anyhow. I was able to get a few pics of the girls with the Easter Bunny. So, it looks like a I have a celebrity in my house....Ellie even gets her picture in the paper! Hey...it's those little things that count!

Let me tell you about this 'bunny.' I am convinced that this 'bunny' had been nursing a serious hangover. Was it really too much to ask that the Easter Bunny be lively and energetic...really? And he didn't even hop around anywhere...the horror! Ellie was scared to death and would only pose if she was farthest away from him...and I can say that I don't blame her. This was a milestone in my house because I've never had any of my kids get their pics taken with Santa or anyone dressed in freakish costumes. It completely creeps me out and I guess my kids inherited that from me. Yeah!

Oh, and one last shot. I bought this must have shirt at Target a few wks ago. Ellie wanted to show it off yesterday. Isn't it awesome? PERFECTION COMES IN SMALL PACKAGES
Love it!